T&T veteran volleyballer Marc-Anthony Honore and SL Benfica will be targeting a spot in the semifinal round of the 2021/2022 CEV Champions League qualifiers when they travel to Finland to meet Vammalan Lentopallo (Valepa) in their second-leg match on Wednesday.
When both teams met seven days ago at the Benfica Sports Hall in Lisbon, Portugal, nine-time domestic league champions Benfica won 25-23, 25-21, 25-18 amd just needs to avoid a straight sets loss to advance.
Also looking to seal their final-four places on Wednesday will be Olympiacos Piraeus and CEZ Karlovarsko who also won their first-leg matches while Shakhyior Soligorsk, also 1-0 ahead goes into action on Thursday.
Last week in their quarterfinal first-legs matches, Shakhyior Soligorsk rallied past Hebar Pazardzhik 25-22. 15-25, 16-25. 25-19, 15-9; Olympiacos outplayed Rieker UJS Komarno 22-25, 40-38, 25-21, 25-22 and Katlovarsjo defeated Mladost Zagreb 21-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-8 .
In their opening round of the CEV Champions League qualifiers played earlier this month, two-time reigning Portugal domestic champions Portugal champions Benfica defeated Estonia Baltic champions Bigbank Tartu 25-21, 17-26, 25-21, 25-20 and 26-24, 22-25, 25-18, 25-16.
Meanwhile, Valepa defeated Holland’s Draisma Dynamo 25-20, 25-21, 27-29, 25-23 in their
The 37-year-old Honore and his teammates have already picked up silverware this season, beating Sporting CP in five sets to lift a record tenth Super Cup.
On Saturday last, they warmed up for the CEV encounter by moving to the top of the Portugal Volleyball Federation Honda Men’s A-1 Division with a fourth straight win to start the season.
Benfica recorded a 25-16, 25-17, 25-21 win against GC Santo Tirso to move to 11 points with an 11-2 sets-won to sets-loss ratio.
Esmoriz is in second place, on the 14-team table a point behind the leaders while AJF Bastardo also has ten points with a 3-1 record, the same as Sporting CP (3-1) and SC Espinho (3-2), who have nine and seven points respectively.
The trio of AA Espinho (2-1), Vitoria (2-1) and Leixoes (2-2) all have seven points as well to occupy positions seventh to ninth.
Following the CEV clash on Wednesday, Benfica returns to A-1 play versus Sporting on Saturday.